Senior Jackson Coleman frantically rushed through the Harry Reid International Airport on Saturday, Sept. 14, hoping to make his flight from Las Vegas to San Francisco. Coleman, who had just finished taking the September ACT, had a very important mission to attend to: DJing Menlo’s Back-to-School Dance under the stage name DJ Jauxon that night.

Seniors Miraal Zaki and Tyler Fernandez initially had the idea for Coleman to step in as a student DJ for Menlo dances while campaigning for Student Body President and Vice President, respectively, last spring. “We thought it would be a way to really increase spirit during the school dance and make people more excited to come since there would be one of us [students] performing,” Zaki said.

When current Student Body President Cody Kletter won the election instead, he decided to adopt the pair’s idea and make it a reality. Kletter, too, hoped that having a student DJ would break the trend of low attendance at the Back-to-School Dance by making it more engaging for the student body. Jackson was the obvious choice for the job; “[Coleman] is just such an amazing, fun guy; he’s really good at DJing and always livens the crowd,” Kletter said.

Coleman decided to learn how to DJ almost two years ago, due to both his love for electronic music and his hope that the music could serve as something that bonded his class. “I hoped DJing could kind of bring more friends together within [our class] that would not normally hang out together,” Coleman said.

It wasn’t long before he became the go-to source of music for class of 2025 bonding activities.

Throughout the summer, Coleman met with Upper School Assistant Director Adam Gelb to discuss the logistics of him performing at the dance. “I had to play clean songs and get them reviewed, but overall [Gelb was] pretty flexible and excited about it,” Coleman said.

Coleman, too, was looking forward to the opportunity to DJ for multiple grades rather than only his own.

By stepping in as a volunteer student DJ, Coleman allowed Menlo to circumvent the usual cost of about $3,000 for a hired DJ. “We definitely had more of a budget [for the dance], and I had all these crazy ideas like bubble guns and smoke machines,” Coleman said. “We didn’t get those for this dance, but if people turn up and it goes well then we can revisit the idea for semi [formal] or prom […] because I’m hoping to DJ again for those.”

Many students attribute their presence at and enjoyment of the Back-to-School Dance to Coleman’s DJing. “I thought DJ Jauxon was phenomenal, […] and I recommend him for the next dance,” sophomore Merrick Ward said. “I was way more hyped for [the Back-to-School Dance] this year than [I was as] a freshman.”

Furthermore, the Back-to-School Dance has traditionally been marketed as a social event for freshmen to bond, with upperclassman attendance being lackluster at best. This year, however, this was not the case. “I went to the dance last year and there were maybe 40 people there, and I thought it was pretty sad,” senior Kieran Pichai said. “There was definitely more senior participation at the dance this year […] it was a lot more fun now that there was a student DJ.”

Coleman is unsure how far he’ll go with this hobby, but said he definitely will continue it through college as a way to bring his friends together. However, he said that if he lived in a perfect world where income didn’t hold any importance, he would continue DJing all the way up until the professional level. “If I’m looking at who lives the best life on the planet, I don’t think there’s many better occupations than a professional DJ,” he said.

This story was originally published on The Coat of Arms on October 31, 2024.